Grain-car-door fastener



Dec. 20; 1927.

W. P, FLYNN GRAIN GAR noon FASTENER Filed Jan. 22, 1927 Fig.2

W. P. Flanntightiatented Dec. 20, 1927.

units! STATES WALTER'P. FLYNN, or ULYSSES, nnnnasire.

GRAINCARDQOR FASTENER.

Application filed January 22,1927. Serial No. 162,867.

My invention relates to grain car door fastoners, one of its objects being the provision of a device whreby the grain car door may be clamped into place without the use of nails and without injury to either the door or the frame of the car.

Another object. of my invention is the provis i of means for 'ad nstably clamping the door to the grain car re less of the variations in thickness of the boards of which the door is made or of variations in the frame of the car.

Another object of my invention is the pro vision of means for preventing buckling ot' the sha ts or rods when the clamping devices are brought into play.

Still another. of the objects of my'invention is the provision of a device which is more or less permanently secured to the car so that it may always be conveniently available when needed, but which is so secured to the car that it may be swung entirely out of the way when the ear is to be used-for hauling freight other than grain. 1

Having in view these objects and others which will be pointed out in the following description, I will now refer to the drawings, in which I Figure 1 is a *iew in elevation of a grain car door and of my securing device as they appear when viewed from theinside of the car. I r I v Figure 2 is a sectional view of the grain car door and showing in full lines my securing device.

l igure 3 is a View in perspective of the three members at the upper end of my device.

Figure 4. is a view in perspective of the claw which prevents buckling of the shaft.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the lower end portion of the shaft and showing also one of the abutments which are secured-to the shaft.

Grain cars. are provided with openings at their sides and with slidable doors on the outer ings.

These doors, of course, are not grain g and it is necessary therefore to provide an additional closure for preventing the loss of grain during transit. The customary form of door used for this purpose consists of a number of pieces of lumber of suitable length which are nailed to the frame of the car against its inner walls so as to close the opening. This entails the wastage of con the floor of the car.

walls of the car for closing the open siderable quantities of. lumber and it seriously damages the car from the fact that nails are frequently driven into and witl'i drawn from the car frame.

I make use of the strips of lumber shown at 10 in such a manner that neither the lumber nor the frame of the carisin any way damaged or injured. For this purpose I provide two. shafts 11, one at each side of the door opening. These shafts are bent at right angles at 11 to form handles whereby they may be turned. At their lower ends they are journalled in shallow sockets in the plates 12 which are preferably imbedded' in Secured to the car at the upper extremity of the shafts 11 are plates 13 having slots 14 for receiving the shafts 11. Theshafts 11 are also provided with lugs 15 which are normally seated against the underside of the plates 13. In order to'release the shafts 11 from their sockets in the plates 12, it is necessary to turn the shafts until the lugs 15 register with r the opening to the slots 1 1 and then to lift the shafts 11 until their lower extremities are above the level of the floor.v The handle portions llof the shafts are provided with vertical apertures 16 for receiving a pin 17. The pin may be secured by means of a chain v18 to the car frame at any convenient position to prevent its accidental loss. The

plate 13 is-similarly n-ovided with-an aperture 19 which registers with the aperture 16 when the device is in locking position so that the pinlT by passing through the apertures 16 'and 19 will prevent rotation of the shaft 11.

The shafts 11 are each provided with a suitable number'- of adjustable abutments, one of which is shown in detail in Figure 5. The shafts 11 are'provided with apertures, one end of the aperature being preferably square in outline while the other end is circular. The abutments comprise bolts having rounded heads 20, threaded portions 21 adj acent the'heads and squared portions 22 at the free ends. Thenuts 23 are adjustable on the screw threaded portions 21 of the abutments. It, will be obvious that when the shafts 11 are in the'position indicated in Figure 2 and at the left in Figure 1 the nuts 23 may be turned so as to provide any desired pressure of the heads against the planks 10. The number of these abut-ments'may, of course, be varied since it depends largely on the width of the planks 10 and on a number of other factors. It is usually desirable to have at least two abutments for a single plank unless the plank is very narrow in width. It is found, however, that these planks vary considerably in thickness and that the frame of the car is sometimes warped. In such cases it is only necessary to tighten each nut 23 in succession until the desired pressure is exerted againstall of the planks 10. The pressure of the abutments against the planks 1O reactson the shafts 11 and unless provision were made fortaking care of this pressure, the shafts 11 would be caused to buckle when the nuts 23 are tightened. For preventing such buckling I provide claws Ql having downwardly turned 'pins which are pivoted in eye bolts 25 passing through the walls of the car adjacent the openings. The eyes of all the eye bolts at one side of the car door opening are in alignment so that they constitute a pivot on which the whole device maybe swung when it clears the socket in the plate '12. This feature is important because the device is apt to be in the way when the car is used for hauling lumber or furniture or other articles besides grain. In such cases the device would be apt to be broken if it were allowed to remain in the position shown in full lines in Fig ure 1. By clearing the shafts 11 from their sockets the whole device may be swung about its pivots in the eyes of the eye bolt and into the dotted line position of Figure 1 where it is'entirely out at the way. At thispoint a short length of chain 27 is se-- cured to the wall of the car so that it-may be made to embrace the shaft 11 and to prevent its swinging away from the wall. 'Inorder to prevent any possibility of vertical displacement of the planks 10 due to the jolting of the loaded'grain car, sleeves 28 are positioned loosely on the shafts 11, these sleeves being both slidable and rotatable on the shafts. The sleeve is provided with a set screw which is adapted to be forced against the shaft to hold the sleeve in fixed position on the shaft, and with a projecting tongue which is adapted to rest on the upper edge of the uppermost plank of the door. lVhen the sleeve is thus fixed in position, all vertical vibration of the door is effectively prevented.

Having thus described my invention in such full, clear, and exactterms that its construction and operation will be readily un derstood by others skilled in the art to which it pertains, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A grain car door fastener including a pair of vertical shafts secured to a grain car at the ends of the grain car door, each of said shafts having secured thereto a plurality of abut-ments for engaging the grain car door, means for turning said shafts to force said abutments into and out of operative position, and means for preventing buckling of said shafts.

2. A grain car door fastener including a pair of vertical shafts secured to a grain car car at the ends of the grain car door, each.

of said shafts being provided with a plurality of horizontal aperatures for slidably and nonrotatably receiving bolts, nuts on said bolts between said shafts and the bolt heads whereby pressure may be exerted through said bolt heads on the grain car door by turning said nuts, and means for turning said shafts so as to force said bolt heads into and out of engagement with the gram car door.

4. A grain car door fastener including a vertical shaft adapted to be secured inside a grain car, a'plurality of abutments secured to said shaft, means for turning said shaft to force said abutments into and out of engagement with the door of the grain car, and means for preventing the buckling of said shaft,said last named means being pivotally secured to the grain car in vertical alignment whereby said. shaft may be swung bodily into a positionagainst the wall'of the grain car.

5. A grain car door fastener including a vertical shaft-adapted to be secured inside a grain car, said shaft having secured thereto a plurality of radially projecting abutments for engaging the grain car-door; said shaftbeing secured forturning move ment to force said abutments into and out of engagement withthe grain car door, a plurality of parallel arms rigidly setured to said shaft and projecting. radially therefrom, and pivots connecting said armsto the grain car, said pivots being in vertical alignment whereby said shaft may be swung away from the opening of the grain car and against the wall thereof. i

In testimony whereof I affix my sig nature. 

